Around Christmas time my local Grocery store was unloading Mini Roses. I was excited by the 69 cent price instead of the usual six bucks. Upon closer inspection my excitement was replaced by pity, they were not in good shape, completely over-watered and possibly frozen. I wanted to rescue all of them however I have a tendency to become overwhelmed so instead I picked one of each color flower.
I drained them out (they were sitting in an inch of water) but they were still soaked so I put them by the heater and spritzed them a couple times a day (so their leaves wouldn't dry out). Anyways they all survived so far, and look great, very bushy lots of new spring growth.
SO...
I keep reading that roses do best outdoors. I'm wondering what I should do this spring. Should I plant them outside? I live in upstate New York, zone 5. Will they be able to handle the winters? Also they didn't have much of a dormancy period, will the summer be stressful as a result?
I have no idea what varieties they are.
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luis_pr
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 824
- Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:31 am
- Location: Hurst, TX USA Zone 7b/8a
Because they did not have a name and you do not know if they are hardy, grow them in pots and put them outside about 2 weeks after your average last date of frost in Spring. Bring them back to a protected area inside the house about 2 weeks before your average date of first frost in the Fall. You could even dig a hole and put them plants inside their pots on the hole and keep them there during the growing season but make sure the sprinkler will provide enough moisture. Add mulch to keep them moist. Try not to get the leaves wet as this can result in fungal infections; water the soil early in the morning around the base of the plants instead. It is ok the use foliar feeding methods with liquid seaweed though; I would just do it early in the morning too.